Genre-defying musician Maki needs your help to make history

by Nancy Z on Thu, Mar 27, 2014

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Maki Hsieh was born mostly deaf and lives largely in a world of vibrations, and yet that doesn't stop her from becoming a classical violinist and genre-defying vocalist with a nine language, three-octave operatic range. With your help, Maki hopes to produce her debut album, Illuminate, as her way to help people discover that what they view as obstacles can transform into opportunities to finding their own truth, and changing the world.

Maki's extraordinary capacity stems in part from a hypersensitivity to sounds and an awareness of vibrations that most people do not notice. Her affinity for the dubstep stems from the bass and vibration heavy qualities of the genre. She says, "I connect with the hearing world by giving all that I have to my music in order to immerse people in beautiful powerful musical experiences that change the way people see themselves, the world and those they love."

Her recent video, a cover of Kyoto by Skrillex, made #1 for 5 weeks within 18 days in Los Angeles, US and Global billboards, holding the record for sweeping ReverbNation dubstep charts. Within 30 days, over 10,000 new followers joined her Facebook page.

Let's watch this amazing performance:

Her story is even more remarkable when you hear Maki talk about her journey that started with her father. Maki was born in Taiwan to a Taiwanese father and a Japanese-American mother. Her father had wanted to become a performer when he was young but ended up working as a banker. When Maki was growing up, her father paid for her music lessons but reminded her to find a safe career. Maki eventually spent 15 years in a practical profession as a banker, but after she moved to LA, she decided to take the leap to pursue her lifelong dream.